London's top chefs share their Christmas leftover recipes (that aren’t just turkey curry)

Elliott Grover's leftover turkey hash

This recipe can use any leftover meat from Christmas, but I've found it works best with turkey leg or ham. My sous chef Adam and I used to make this Christmas hash recipe at Le Caprice years ago as a brunch for the team, with the leftover from the roast. It was always a hit. For the duck egg, I like to use a good quality Braddock white, just because I reckon they're simply the best. Rich, decadent, and the yolk is as bright as the sun. Still, you can also use a good quality egg — I like to get mine from Clarence court. The recipe below is for the hash, but make sure your timings line-up. When frying, you want to get a golden colour, and for the egg to be crispy, so facotr in around 4-5 minutes on each side. Don’t worry if it gets slightly over-roasted as this is all the flavour!

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 200g roasted turkey
• 100g ham
• One onion, sliced
• 400g leftover sprouts or cabbage (cooked)
• 800g leftover roast potatoes
• 15ml Worcestershire sauce
• 30g wholegrain mustard
• One duck egg

Method

1. Finely slice the onion, then sweat down slowly in some leftover duck fat or oil until it begins to caramelise. The longer they cook down, the better.
2. Meanwhile, break up some leftover roasties into bite-size pieces, drizzle with vegetable oil and put into the oven at 180°C for 10 to 15 minutes, or until they start to go crispy. Shred the turkey and ham into small pieces and leave to one side.
3. Next, take the cooked green vegetables you have leftover and cut into small pieces. When the onions are caramelised, add the shredded meat and veg and heat through before adding the Worcestershire sauce and wholegrain mustard.
4. When hot, add the roast potatoes to the mix and stir to combine. Don't smash it around too much — you're looking for definite pieces, not bubble and squeak.
5. Now fry it all for a couple of minutes and make sure everything is piping hot. Season well with salt and pepper, and top with a fried duck egg to serve.

Elliott Grover, pictured at the top of this page, is the executive chef of Cut at 45 Park Lane, dorchestercollection.com

Nicholas Balfe’s turkey ramen

(Salon)

Serves: 4

Ingredients

For the ramen broth

• Bones and trimmings from your turkey (or goose/duck and so on)
• A ham bone or pork knuckle or ham hock would also be great for flavour, but it’s optional
• 1 large onion or couple of shallots
• 1 leek
• A few sticks of celery
• 1 large carrot
• A thumb sized piece of ginger
• A few star anise
• A head of garlic, split in half cross ways
• 1 red chilli
• Coriander stem

For the soup

• A few dashes of Soy sauce
• Rice wine vinegar and mirin (optional)
• Leftover turkey meat, shredded (around 200 - 400g, depending on how much you have)
• Some of the meat from the ham hock, if using
• Cooked rice noodles
• Some leftover greens — brussels sprouts, cavolo nero, kale, broccoli, cabbage
• A couple of spring onions, sliced thinly
• A red chilli, de-seeded and chopped or chilli flakes or some chilli sauce
• Something pickled if you have it — ginger would be great, mushrooms would be ideal, a pickled onion would also be fine. All are optional
• Toasted sesame seeds and sesame oil (again optional, but a nice touch!)

Method

1. First make the broth. Slice the onions, leek and celery, and saute with a tiny bit of oil. Soften them but don’t colour them at all.
2. Add the ginger, peeled and slice, garlic, star anise, and red chilli, pricked with the point of a knife.
3. Cover with water (approx 1.5 litres), and simmer very gently for at least an hour, if not four or more.
4. Strain off the liquid and set aside (you can do this advance and keep it for a couple of days in the fridge if you like).
5. When you’re ready to prepare the meal, gently warm up the broth, and season with soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and mirin until it has a deep, savoury flavour, with a bit of a tang to it too.
6. Add the meat and allow it to warm through in the broth. Separately cook up the greens, however you normally prefer to cook them.
7. Cook the noodles in boiling water for a couple of minutes and divide between four bowls.
8. Add the greens, then the meat, then the broth.
9. Top with the spring onions, chillies (in whatever form and quantity takes your fancy), pickles and sesame (if you’re using these). And then serve and enjoy.

Nicholas Balfe is the founder and chef-director of Levan, levanlondon.co.uk, and Holm Somerset, holmsomerset.co.uk

Mallika Basu’s leftover roast jalfrezi

(Mallika Basu)

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 medium onions, thickly sliced
• 1 inch ginger, grated
• 2 cloves garlic, grated
• 1-2 green chillies, chopped
• 2 green peppers, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• Half tsp chilli powder
• 4 large handfuls shredded roast turkey (chicken, lamb or beef will work too)
• Half tsp garam masala
• Salt and black pepper
• Few sprigs of coriander leaves

Method

1. Bring a wok to high heat with the oil. When it’s hot, drop in the onions, ginger and garlic and sauté for 10 minutes until golden. Then add the green chilli, turmeric and chilli powder and sauté for another five minutes. If the spices start getting stuck to the bottom of the pan, add a dash of hot water and loosen.
2. Next, thinly slice the green peppers and stir into the wok along with the tomato puree. Cook this for five minutes until the peppers soften and the moisture evaporates. Then stir in the leftover turkey and fry for five minutes until hot and mixed well.
3. Add salt to your taste and a sprinkle of black pepper, and garnish with coriander leaves to serve.

Mallika Basu is a recipe writer, cookbook author and co-founder of Sizl Spices, mallikabasu.com

Bala Baya Christmas Pitta

(Bala Baya)

• 2 Pitta
• Roughly chopped leftover turkey, about 200g
• Roast potatoes, smashed, about 100g
• 50g any cheese (cubed) you have lying around. We use Taleggio but Brie or cheddar are good alternatives
• Mustard to taste
• 1 large tomato, cut into wedges
• Fresh oregano
• Mixed pickles

Method

1. Turn the oven on max heat (normally 240°C).
2. Mix cheese and smashed potatoes together before putting on an oven tray, and season with salt and pepper.
3. Put this under the grill to get it nice and crispy.
4. Place two frying pans on the hob on high heat until smoking hot. Put a good knob of butter on both pans, immediately put the turkey in one, shake for a bit and leave for one minute. Pour it all onto a plate with the burnt butter.
5. Do the same with the tomatoes in the other pan for two to three minutes
6. Roughly chop mixed pickles and oregano.
7. To plate, you can choose to put the filling inside the pitta or on top. Layer the pitta with potato, turkey, tomato, pickles and oregano, at least twice, and take the biggest bite you can.